Improvement in fences



w. TUTTLE, 1r.

Portable Fence.

Paented Sept. 1T, 1866.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEETGE;

WILLIAM TUTTLE, JR., OF DOWAGIAC, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN FENoEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,003, dated September 11, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WM. TUTTLE, Jr., of Dowagiac, Cass county, State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Constructing Portable Fences; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, true, and exact description thereof, sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art to practice my invention, reference being had to the aunexed drawings, forming a part of my, specification thereof, in which drawings- Figure l shows two adjoining panels of a portable fence having the adjoining ends of the panels locked together by means of my improvement; and Fig. 2 shows similar panels in a separated or unlocked condition.

rIhe object of my invention is the construction of a portable or hurdle fence,which, while it shall possess all the necessary rigidity of a permanent fence when once put up in position, may yet be readily taken down when not needed, and at the same time is of easy and cheap construction. To this end I construct a fence in panels having any desired number of rails or strips a c a, fastened to three uprights, b c b', by means of nails, or in any equivalent manner, as indicated in the gures. At the adjoining ends of the panels, as represented, the top and bottom strips or rails, c, are slotted half their depth near each end with a beveling slot, as at e. (Seen in the left-hand panel ot' Fig. 2.) This beveled slot e in the rails a a corresponds with a like bevel, as at j', formed on the edge of the locking-upright b', so that when the panels are in position, as shown in Fig. 1, portions of thc bevel-edge f of the upright b will snugly litagainst the outside surface or outer face of the rails g g, which form a part of the right-hand panel represented in the gures, while at the same time the beveled edge of the upright b2 will snugly iit or abut against the inner face or surface of the rails a a at of the left-hand panel, as clearly indicated in the figures. To effect this locking of the panels the bevel-slots e of the rails g g in the right-hand panel are so cut or formed as to register precisely with their fellow bevels in the left-hand panel, with which they interlock when the two panels are in the condition indicated in Fig. 1.

It will thus be seen that the worm or angle of the fence may be made greater or less, as may be desired, according as the slot e is formed more or less at a right angle with the length of the rails c a.

It will also be seen that at the angle of the fence thus formed by interlocking the ends of the panels two posts or uprights are situated opposite to each other, which, at their lower extremities, as at 7L h', are so spread apart as to form a bracing and firm rest upon the ground for holding the fence in position.

To put up the fence it is only necessary to insert the lower rail, g, of the right-hand panel into the space t' of the left-hand panel in such manner as to cause the beveled slots of the two panels to register with each other, whereupon, a proper pressure' being applied to the right-hand panel, its rails g g will securely seat themselves into the rails c a of the left-hand panel, and so form a firm locking together of the two panels.

To unlock the fence the right-hand panel is simply raised while the left-hand panel remains stationary upon the ground.

By mymode of constructing portable fences, v

as above. described, I not only secure the advantages of a very strong and cheap fence, as well as one which can be readily put up and taken down, but also one which, when the slots are once properly cut, the fence, when put up, will always maintain a uniformity of angle or worm without special pains being taken to effect this purpose during the act ot' erecting the fence.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent of the United States, is-

Providing the adjoining ends of a panel fence with a locking device, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WM. TUTTLE, JR.

In presence of N. B. HoLLIsTER, A. A. ALWARD. 

